Now We're Talking: A Study on Language Assistance Services at Ten New York City Public and Private Hospitals

The Equitable and Effective Government Initiative (EEGI) is a partnership between Make the Road New York  (MTRNY)and the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) to assess the implementation of a recent language assistance law at local public and private hospitals through hospital monitoring and surveys among limited-English-proficient (LEP) patients.  Findings from this study indicate that there is significant progress across both public and private hospitals in New York City as a result of advocacy that led to the enactment of the new state language assistance law in 2006. 

Effective September 2006, a new State regulation requires hospitals to notify patients of the availability of free language assistance services, and to provide interpretation services to all limited-English-proficient patients in a timely manner.  This law provides standards that hospitals must meet in order to ensure that patients have meaningful access to services by reducing communication barriers, and thereby reducing the incidence of medical harm.  The findings from EEGI indicate that these standards are guiding hospitals in the right direction, with room for improvement in equitable access to health care for all New Yorkers regardless of the languages that they speak.   

In order to systematically measure compliance with recently enacted state laws, EEGI developed a patient survey instrument and a hospital walk-through guide for health advocates at MTRNY and KCS  to assess communication assistance services available for language minorities.  MTRNY conducted surveys in Spanish at ten different hospitals throughout the summer and fall of 2007.  Community members and staff also conducted a walk-through study in which they assessed public notice and assistance for LEP patients entering and navigating the halls and waiting areas of the hospital and some of its clinics.  In order to draw a comparison between language groups, Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York (KCS) participated in EEGI by conducting surveys and a walk-through study with Korean-speaking clients at two of the same hospitals included in MTRNY's sample in the fall 2007 and winter of 2008.

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